


Lies

by DeckofDragons



Category: Super Mario Bros. (Video Games), Super Paper Mario (Game)
Genre: During Canon, Gen, Luigi thinks he's dead but he's not, Mild Angst, Mild canon divergence, Takes place during chapter 7
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-14
Updated: 2020-11-14
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:28:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,060
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27555364
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DeckofDragons/pseuds/DeckofDragons
Summary: Luigi lies about not remembering anything when Mario finds him in the Underwhere.
Relationships: Luigi & Mario (Nintendo)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 42





	Lies

**Author's Note:**

> I played Super Paper Mario recently and was a bit disappointed but not really surprised when upon finding Luigi in the Underwhere, it was revealed that he didn't remember anything he did as Mr. L. That's less fun in part because it lessens the angst potential so here's a quick little thing exploring the idea that he was lying about that.

With death came clarity of mind and remembrance. He’d been brainwashed to forget everything, even his own _name_. Even worse than that though was that he’d tried his absolute best to kill Mario, not once but twice. How was that even possible? It had to have been a disturbingly vivid dream, right? … It wasn’t though, unfortunately.

Luigi sat up and looked around. He was in a dark cave and thus there wasn’t much to see but the sound of dripping water came from somewhere nearby. This was the afterlife? He didn’t _feel_ like his game was over but Dimentio had trapped him in a box and killed him. It had hurt but… not as bad as he would’ve thought it would. Not that it really mattered, he was dead either way.

He… kind of deserved it though, didn’t he? He’d been working for someone actively trying to bring about the end of the world. And to top it off, he’d tried to kill his own brother in the process, Peach and Bowser too. At least being dead meant he wouldn’t have to face the prospect of talking to any of them about it for a while. _And_ he was no longer brainwashed, that was good too, especially since it meant he wouldn’t be standing in Mario’s way as Mr. L any more.

What now though? What was one supposed to do upon reaching the afterlife? … With a sigh, he just started walking, dragging his heels as he wasn’t really going anywhere.

He tried not to think about Mr. L, Count Bleck, Dimentio, or the fact that he was dead. But as was always the way with such things, trying _not_ to think about it meant it was all he _could_ think about.

Ugh! He’d just wanted to be the hero for once! How could he have possibly failed so badly that he’d become a villain instead? How could he have been brainwashed so _easily_? Was he really _that_ mentally weak? How could he not have broken out of it at the sight of Mario? And now he was _dead_ , betrayed by the…

A sound came from somewhere ahead of him, freezing him in place. … Footsteps. Due to the uneven geometry of the cave, it was impossible to see whoever or _whatever_ it may be but unless the way the sounds echoed off the cave walls was playing a trick on him, the footsteps were definitely headed his way. Normally not a scary idea but he wasn’t ready to talk to anyone yet. … He had to eventually though, right?

“Hullo!” Wait was that… “Luvbi, you down here somewhere?”

What was Mario doing _here_? That meant he was dead too which was _awful_ but also, he was supposed to be the hero, right? He supposed to save the day; him being dead drastically increased Count Bleck’s chances of victory, which mean the literal end of the world.

Luigi turned and ran. He couldn’t face this right now, it was too much. Everything was falling apart around him and there was nothing he could do about it. There wasn’t really anywhere to run to though, he encountered a dead end before he was even winded.

With no other options available, he hid behind a rock. Maybe Mario wouldn’t see him and just move on upon seeing the dead end. It was worth a try, right? He’d have to face Mario eventually, he couldn’t bear the thought of never speaking to him again no matter if Count Bleck’s destruction of the worlds included this one and thus limiting their time here too, or not. He just needed some time to prepare for it.

Would he apologize for what he’d done as Mr. L? By some miracle Mario hadn’t seemed to recognize him so maybe it’d be better to not bring it up at all. But could he really keep it a secret for long? Would it even be _right_ to? Did he _want_ to? He had no idea thus he was _not_ ready to face Mario yet. …

“Luigi?”

Dammit!

Not letting himself hesitate, he snapped back up right, turning around in the same motion. “Mario!” he said as if it were a pleasant surprise to see him.

They hugged because no matter what, it had been a while since they’d seen each other and these was less than happy times. And it was good to see him again even despite the circumstances.

“I… didn’t expect to see you here,” Mario said as they separated.

“Uh… I’m not really sure where here is.” That wasn’t really a lie, all he knew was that his game was over and thus he was in the Underwhere somewhere.

“We’re in the Underwhere. I don’t think our games are over though. One of Count Bleck’s henchmen did something to me and now I’m here. What about you though? What happened to you?”

“Uh… I don’t remember much of anything actually.” The lie was surprisingly easy to say. As far as he could tell, little to no sign of it showed on his face or in his voice. Mario didn’t know the truth about Mr. L and he’d been brainwashed so nothing he’d done as Mr. L was _really_ his fault so he could just pretend it didn’t happen. “I suppose if my game’s over, I guess that’s that though.”

“Nah, like I said, I don’t think we’re actually dead. Come with me, I’m looking for a someone named Luvbi. I’ll fill you in on my adventures and why I think we’re still alive while we find a way out of this dead-end cave.”

Fully committed to the lie now, Luigi followed, pretending that Mario’s tale was entirely new and not just filling in the gaps of what had been reported to him or he’d overheard or worst of all was there for as Mr. L. Mario never had to know the truth. And if it somehow ever came to light in any way, he could just say he’d been brainwashed and thus had no memory of it and therefore it had nothing to do with him whatsoever. There was nothing wrong with lying about it… right? It’s not like there was much of a chance of it coming back to haunt him. So like always he’d trust in Mario’s ability to make everything turn out fine in the end.


End file.
